Dr. Anderson’s research program examines central nervous system (CNS) degeneration and regeneration, especially the role of human neural stem cells in thoracic spinal cord injury (SCI). The Anderson lab examines non-traditional roles for the innate inflammatory system in both the pathophysiology of spinal cord injury, and identified a role for complement C1q and C3a/C3b as single molecules in the CNS, controlling mouse and human neutral stem cell behavior, and thereby identifying a key role for innate immune cells and autocrine / paracrine complement signaling in survival, self-renewal, and differentiation in the adult brain, as well as a role for these proteins in age-related neurogenesis declines. Dr. Anderson has mentored eight Ph.D. students and co-mentored three Ph.D. students who have completed their dissertations. She currently has three Ph.D. students in her lab.